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THE UNCERTAINTY by Mikael Opstrup

THE UNCERTAINTY
by Mikael Opstrup

THE UNCERTAINTY
by Mikael Opstrup

About Mikael Opstrup

Portrait of Mikael Opstrup - Documentary film Developer & Author

Hi, I’m Mikael Opstrup and the author of THE UNCERTAINTY.

This photo means a lot to me. It reminds me of the conditions for some documentary filmmakers. It’s taken at the café around the corner from the workshop venue by a – I forgot his name – Syrian director in Damascus in March 2011, the time where the Syrian revolution was still people’s demonstrations against the dictatorship. During daytime we discussed film, at night they revolted. It was fantastic to experience. It’s not unlikely that the photographer is now dead along with other participants from the workshop.

Before the photo was taken, I had primarily been a documentary producer but also a distributor, festival director and production adviser at the Danish Film Institute.

After the snapshot, I’ve spent a decade as documentary developer, workshop tutor and forum moderator as Head of Studies at European Documentary Network.

Now I’m on my own. I meet a couple of hundred documentary film teams a year and do my best to assist them with developing their projects.

They are my primary inspiration for writing this book.

Portrait of Mikael Opstrup - Documentary film Developer & Author

Hi, I’m Mikael Opstrup and the author of THE UNCERTAINTY.

This photo means a lot to me. It reminds me of the conditions for some documentary filmmakers. It’s taken at the café around the corner from the workshop venue by a – I forgot his name – Syrian director in Damascus in March 2011, the time where the Syrian revolution was still people’s demonstrations against the dictatorship. During daytime we discussed film, at night they revolted. It was fantastic to experience. It’s not unlikely that the photographer is now dead alongwith other participants from the workshop.

Before the photo was taken, I had primarily been a documentary producer but also a distributor, festival director and production adviser at the Danish Film Institute.

After the snapshot, I’ve spent a decade as documentary developer, workshop tutor and forum moderator as Head of Studies at European Documentary Network.

Now I’m on my own. I meet a couple of hundred documentary film teams a year and do my best to assist them with developing their projects.

They are my primary inspiration for writing this book.

Short CV - Mikael Opstrup

Short CV
Mikael Opstrup

Mikael Opstrup is a specialist in international project development, trailer consultancy, co-productions, workshop planning & tutoring within documentary filmmaking and the author of THE UNCERTAINTY.

Besides being the author of the book THE UNCERTAINTY Mikael Opstrup has dealt with:

Scriptwriting at the Danish Film School (1988), Head of Studies at European Documentary Network, EDN (2011-19). He has worked for more than 50 documentary organisations & events all over the world among other he has worked for IDFA (Netherlands), Hot Docs (Canada), Nordisk Panorama (Denmark/Sweden), Institute of Documentary Film (Czech Republic), Baltic Sea Docs (Latvia), Docs Barcelona (Spain), In Docs (Indonesia), Dox Box (Syria) a.o. Producer and co-owner of Final Cut Productions in Copenhagen, Denmark (2002-09). He served as a Documentary Producer at The Danish Film Institute (1998-2002).

Download long CV - Mikael Opstrup
Download long CV
Mikael Opstrup

Moments

Mikael Opstrup , Leipzig 2023
I had not met the photographer Farah Fricke before but we had a very nice talk about portrait photography in Leipzig 2023. It is not an easy task to be the photographer at a workshop where the same group of people sit and talk for a week.
Photo: Farah Fricke
Mikael Opstrup and Gitte Hansen, Nordisk Panorama 2019
When a went freelance, I thought it would be nice to call me something else than Film consultant. Here you see my choice. ‘Too presumptuous’, an English-speaking colleague told me at Nordisk Panorama in 2019, so it was a one-timer. Here with my fellow moderator Gitte Hansen.
Photo: Søren Lamberth.
Orwa Nyrabia, Diana El Jeiroudi & Mikael Opstrup outside IDFA Forum in 2007
When we were young. With Orwa Nyrabia & Diana El Jeiroudi outside IDFA Forum in 2007, where we had just pitched their film ‘Dolls – A woman from Damascus’, that I co-produced. It went well, as you can see from our faces.
Mikael Opstrup, Ex Oriente 2016. Jihlava
I never understood why some filmmakers say they sometimes get nervous when we talk about their projects. But maybe they are right. Here at 2 Ex Oriente sessions in 2016. With director Bohdan Bláhovec in Split, Croatia (right) and with producer Jakub Pinkava in Jihlava, Czech Republic (left).
Mikael Opstrup, Below Zero in Tromsø, Norway in 2016.
Was it you or me, who should have invited the decision makers, Iikka? I wrote as the photo text when I posted this picture of Iikka Vehkalathi and me, moderators at North Pitch – Below Zero in Tromsø, Norway in 2016. There is nothing like poor humor to tie people together.
Photo: Pupaluk Lykke.
Daniel Saltzwedel & Mikael Opstrup, at East Doc Platform Prague 2014.
If vanity is one of your characteristics, don’t be a moderator at East Doc Platform, where the organizers are very creative. With Daniel Saltzwedel in Prague 2014.
Tue Steen Müller & Mikael Opstrup. Latvia 2021
I have worked with Tue Steen Müller for many years, for example at Baltic Sea Docs in Riga. When he received the Order of the Three Stars, the highest state decoration, from Egils Levits, then President of the Republic of Latvia, for Tue’s enormous importance for Latvian documentary, I could not resist the temptation when he asked me to hold his flowers before his official photo was taken.
Riga, BSD 2021, photo Agnese Zeltina, ©National Film Centre of Latvia
Tue Steen Müller & Mikael Opstrup. Riga 2014. Baltic Sea Docs.
Maybe less prestigious than the former photo but just as valued: Tue and I received presents from the organizers of Baltic Sea Docs for years of dedicated service as tutors and moderators: Jerseys from the national ice hockey team.
Riga 2014., Photo: Uldis Cekulis.
Mikael Opstrup and others. Baltic Sea Docs.
Head of Baltic Sea Docs, Zane Balcus, thought she had hired a group of tutors. Instead the heavy metal band THE DOCCERS showed up. Bandmembers from left to right Phil Jandaly, Alisa Kovalenko, Uldis Cekulis, Emma Davie, Tue Steen Müller, Salomé Jashi and me.
Liepupe, BSD 2023, photo Agnese Zeltina, ©National Film Centre of Latvia
Mikael Opstrup dancing
Frankly I don’t like to dance but what can you do when one of the workshop participants has her 30th birthday and invites you to the floor. Riga, BSD 2014, photo Didzis Grodzs, ©National Film Centre of Latvia